It's bad luck for today's thread to be below yesterday's game thread on the front page. Okay. Now. I want to optimisitc about this game. Never mind that Saunders has won four straight. Never mind that he's good on the road, and good this month. And never mind that the Sox are sending out Paul Byrd to face him. Not exactly the way you draw it up.I don't think its totally hopeless though. Byrd throws junk, and the Angels aren't exactly all that disciplined. He could very well befuddle them completely, keeping the Sox in this game just as much as Saunders keeps the Angels in. It could happen. Nobody thought Matsuzaka could dance with Lackey.It doesn't help much that it sounds like Youk is probably out again. Or that Vic might not be back from dealing with whatever his personal issue is today as well, thus cutting down the offense pretty dramatically. Although at least Tek will be batting from the right tonight, which should help him. That doesn't really make up for no Vic or Youk, but like I said, I'm trying to stay positive here.So tonight I'd say Byrd goes for five plus, three runs. Which would be great from him. Unfortunately, I'd also guess Saunders goes six plus, maybe seven, and gives up only one or two. So the Sox will have some lumber to cut against the bullpen, in a very small window before the Angels closer comes in and shuts the door. And the Angels pen doesn't suck. Ultimately its never fair when the back of one team's rotation is up against the front of another team's. It rarely works out well. But everyone should take heart in the fact that one, the game is not completely hopeless, and two, the Rangers have already lost their series with Oakland. Unless they pull it out in a historic way in the next nineteen games (and even then they're more likely to catch the Angels than the Sox), Tito can start thinking about how to line up that playoff rotation sometime in the middle of the Royals series next week.

They've got a comfortable lead over Texas. They can afford one more night of the JV lineup.

This isn't a JV line-up by choice, at least. With Youks and Victor unavailable, the only wound that is arguably self-inflicted is Rocco for Drew, and with the lefty Saunders going and Tito religiously limiting Drew's playing time by sitting him against lefties, there's nothing unexpected about that.

This does beg the question about how long Youks and Martinez will be out.

With Tek now sporting a lusty .164/.256/.511 post-ASG line and the trend continuing to move south, do the Sox start thinking about using Kottaras or Dusty Brown if VMart remains out for a while?

After 4 consecutive stellar starting pitching performances, how can Byrd not catch the wave and pitch well enough to keep it a game? Bring it tonight Paul, and with a little love and support from the guys, you can kcik their asses back to LA.